all the wrong questions
by the primrose path
Summary: Day 27: Something Weird? / I was in Roxas's room this morning, making sure he was okay, and then Lord Xemnas came in. I had to leave, but I stopped by the door for a moment and I heard Lord Xemnas say something really weird: "You're sleeping again." [ one-shot. ]


**A/N:**

 **Disclaimer – I am not involved with the copyright/s over Kingdom Hearts or any of its affiliates. I am not making any monetary profit off of writing this.**

 **Ven is just too adorable trying to trash-talk ;w;**

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The puppet was in the room when Xemnas walked in. It looked up from where it was sitting by Roxas's bed and let out a small gasp, although its face couldn't be seen in the shadow of its hood. "Lord Xemnas," it said and stood up quickly from the chair.

"Number Fourteen." Xemnas stopped a few paces away, watching the puppet closely. "You have a mission at the Beast's castle, I believe. You may return once it has been completed."

"Yes, sir." The puppet's hand twitched, as if it wanted to salute, and –

Ah. There it was. Just the briefest flicker, but Xemnas saw in one split second Sora's face superimposed over the dark hood of Number XIV. A corner of his mouth lifted in the faintest of smiles.

Xemnas did not turn to watch as the puppet left the room.

He sat down in the chair it had just vacated and became very nearly a different person. Shades of long-forgotten memories stirred, and suddenly, Xemnas was not in the castle at all, but at Home; and the sleeping boy in front of him became not a servant garbed in black but a Friend, younger and clad in various greys.

And then he blinked, and the moment was lost to time. Nevertheless, the memory of it remained, and Xemnas's eyes gleamed the faintest blue for the briefest second.

"You're sleeping again," he said, and he spoke like another person entirely. "Xigbar didn't even ask you that many questions."

Roxas, asleep, couldn't hear or respond.

"But in your condition, I guess anything could've hit too close to home." Xemnas watched him for a moment. "No memories. No heart. Sora kept all of those things. And now you're sleeping again." He paused as something had occurred to him. "Oh. The sympathetic link between you and Sora. The CO objective must've failed."

Roxas didn't reply.

Xemnas sat in the chair silently for several minutes, only watching Roxas. Finally, he said, "I've searched for years. But I can't find our mutual Friend, and neither, I guess, can I find you. Where are you, Friend?"

"You're not my friend," came out of Roxas's mouth. His eyes eerily remained closed.

Xemnas blinked in surprise.

"You say you've been looking for me and Aqua for years," Roxas's mouth continued to say. "And maybe you have. But you're not Terra. And you're not looking for us because you're our friend."

"But I am," Xemnas replied smoothly, as if there had been no previous hesitation at all. "You can't have forgotten about me already."

"I've never forgotten about _you_. But can you say the same for yourself about us?" Xemnas did not respond, and a bitter chuckle came out of Roxas's mouth. "I know. You just heard me say Aqua's name. But now that doesn't count, and you still don't know mine. No true friend would've forgotten our names."

"Your name is Ventus," Xemnas said.

Whoever was controlling Roxas did not speak for a moment. "Where did you pull that from?" he asked.

"Why are you accusing me of all these things? I remember you, Ventus, and Aqua too. We lived together for years."

"Anyone could say that. But you can't trick me. _You're not Terra._ And you're not finding me until you are."

"Ask me anything. I can answer it."

"Fine. What's your name?"

Xemnas paused for a moment, taken aback. "... Terra."

"Uh-huh. What Master did we train under?"

"... Master Eraqus."

"What was my favorite present from you?"

"... A wooden Keyblade."

"When we first met, what happened?"

"I asked you too many questions, and you fell unconscious."

Ventus did not respond. Eventually, he said flatly, "Okay. That's pretty good. But facts are facts. I have one more question for you."

"Ask."

"Why are you here?"

Xemnas blinked. "Clarify."

"Why are you a man in a black robe, sitting in a chair in a room of a castle that's not Home? Why aren't you tirelessly looking everywhere for Aqua, why are you living and working with thirteen strangers? Why are you wasting time gathering a bunch of hearts together and making Kingdom Hearts _just like Xehanort did?_ "

Xemnas did not reply.

Ventus scoffed. "Thought so. And just saying, but Terra would never say 'clarify'. Way too big of a word for him." Roxas's mouth twitched upwards before he stopped it. "But anyway, you're Xehanort. Right?"

Xemnas said nothing.

"Uh-huh. I don't know what you did to Terra, but I know one thing for sure, and that's that you're going to get your butt handed to you. On a silver platter. Because Sora's going to wake up, and then I'm going to wake up, find Aqua, and you'll be beaten, Xehanort."

"... How are you here?"

"What?"

"How are you here?" Xemnas repeated. "This should be impossible."

"You've been talking to me for five minutes now, I think we've gotten past the 'this is impossible' part. But to tell it to you straight, _Friend_... I've always been here."

Xemnas opened his mouth to continue the conversation, but the presence he could feel within Roxas abruptly vanished, and he remembered who he was. A second later, Xemnas realized that he and Roxas were not alone. "Reveal yourself," he commanded, looking towards the door.

Saïx appeared in the doorway and bowed slightly. "I apologize for interrupting, Superior. But I have need to speak with you."

Xemnas's eyes narrowed in sudden suspicion as he realized that he did not know how long Saïx had been there, listening. "Of course," he nonetheless replied, and stood up from his chair to leave with him.


End file.
